


your hand in mine

by vampkomori



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games), Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29950920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampkomori/pseuds/vampkomori
Summary: After the events of the Keyblade War, Riku pays Shibuya another visit in hopes of taking his mind off things. Though he does look forward to talking to Joshua the most out of everyone.
Relationships: Kiryu "Joshua" Yoshiya/Riku (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	your hand in mine

“I’ll be there in around two hours, no delays this time.”

He laughed a little as he said it, thoroughly aware of what happened last time and—despite being reassured several times that it was _fine_ —still feeling bad about it. 

Technically, it wasn’t fine. Joshua had made sure to clear his schedule for the day, preparing himself for the other’s arrival, and being entirely unable to pass time in any meaningful way. 

It sucked. And every minute that Riku was late, he was thinking—which never led to anything good. What if he died? Had an accident? Realized what he was doing, turned around, and decided to do something better with his time? Then Joshua would realize what he was doing and redirect his thoughts somewhere else. Bad space traffic? Maybe he converted the world time zones wrong?

Well, it turned out the mission Riku was on just took a little longer than expected. That, and his phone had slipped out of his pocket sometime earlier and got crunched. Or, crushed to pieces rather. Makes it a bit hard to inform anyone about his delay.

He had felt _really_ bad about it. 

Nobody could be mad at him. They went on to do what they had planned afterwards, albeit somewhat later than expected, but everyone could tell that Riku’s heart wasn’t in it. Even after reassuring him that it was alright, these things happen sometimes, we aren’t mad at you, we’ll just have to adjust our plans a little bit—he just seemed to get more downcast. 

Joshua felt bad that he had been annoyed at him for it. Sometimes things that are out of your control happen, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It wasn’t Riku’s fault for being late, but it wasn’t exactly… anyone’s fault. Things just happen sometimes. But that didn’t stop Riku from blaming himself and it didn’t stop Joshua from blaming the person who was at the center of it. 

And, god, did he feel bad about it. 

For one, the fact that Riku’s coming to hang out with them regularly in the first place is nothing short of a miracle. 

When they had met in Traverse Town, he wasn’t exactly expecting to make friends. It was more of a… mutually beneficial relationship. Riku would help them get rid of some troublemaking Dream Eaters and he would… he’d... 

Hm. 

Well, maybe it was more one-sided than he remembers. Although, maybe he’s downplaying the helpfulness of his rambles about time axes and instructions on how to make a Komory Bat? If he did anything else, he surely can’t remember. Which is kind of to be expected, considering that it all happened in a dream. Or, in the Sleeping Realm. Douses everything in a layer of fog and haziness, and makes things generally more difficult to recall. 

Regardless of how helpful his… comments slash advice were, for some reason Riku genuinely wanted to spend more time with him. And Beat. And Rhyme. And probably Shiki. Did he even meet Neku?

The point is, someone wants to hang out with Joshua. Which wouldn’t be anything special usually, considering that the others hound him about coming to their weekly get-togethers all the time. Like, lay off, he’s busy, being a God and all. There’s important business to attend to, like lounging in his room and trying to avoid his Producer. Sometimes even sabotage his Producer’s attempts at making him do actual work. Very important business as one can tell.

But Riku was a little different.

He and Riku had gotten along well in Traverse Town, from his perspective at least. But he wouldn’t fault him for wanting to spend more time with the others. He had even tried to make up an excuse as to why he wouldn’t be able to attend—which Riku very adamantly expressed his disappointment in, and even tried to reschedule to a day where he’d be free. At first, he thought that maybe he was just being polite. If someone can’t make it, usually you’d offer an alternative date out of consideration, and the other person would decline once more, and say that it was fine, they’d be there next time. It’s common courtesy. 

But Riku went on to say that he was really looking forward to seeing him. And then his theory went right down the drain. He was gracious enough to give him an out, the opportunity to not have to talk to him, and he retorted with a genuine desire to talk with him again?

What the hell did he do in the Sleeping Realm?

Well, whatever Riku saw in him back then, he couldn’t exactly say _no_ anymore. Doesn’t mean that he wasn’t still gonna be a bitch about it. He had thoroughly complained about having to _walk_ to places. “What if I just ordered a limousine and spared us all the trouble of walking through mid-heatwave Shibuya?” he had said. 

Apparently, dying of heatstroke is a risk they’re willing to take for the sake of making Riku “experience the city for the first time”. 

All right. By all means, endanger yourselves to the rampant sun of Shibuya in August. He’ll welcome you when the time comes. 

Maybe they were lucky that Riku ended up being late. Unknowingly saved them all from the agonizing fate that is walking around Shibuya while it was a solid 38°C outside. Not even the occasional shade from some office building would stop them from having to eventually seek refuge in a building with air conditioning. Then he’d refuse to ever set foot outside the cooling oasis again and the others would leave him behind and venture out into the blazing inferno once more. 

Instead, they just ended up lounging around 104 for a bit before getting some ice cream from a vendor around the street. Maracuja sorbet. Really good flavour.

Their reunion was a lot more short-lived than they had hoped it to be, since everyone was more focused on showing Riku around the city than actually asking about how they’ve been. Which wouldn’t be an issue, since they could just ask next time, but Riku had seemed like he needed to talk. 

Well, his people-reading skills could be rusty, but there’s no harm in asking, Joshua thinks. Just gotta hope that his people- _talking_ skills are up for the task this time.

  
  


<><><>

  
  


He really doesn't know why he thought it was gonna be easy. 

For one, it seems he underestimated how difficult it would be to get to talk to Riku alone. In hindsight, maybe that was obvious, considering that they were showing Riku around and actually have the opportunity to ask how he’s been this time. Then they started playing twenty questions while he wasn’t paying attention and now he’s just slowly lagging behind them and listens in on their conversation sometimes.

“Yo, what? No way you’ve never had a hot dog before, man. That’s so sad.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had a hamburger either, Riku!”

“Ah, well, the opportunity just never came up?” Riku said with another one of his awkward laughs. 

“What kind of food _have_ you tried then? Don't you visit a bunch of different worlds?”

“There’s the Le Grand Bistrot in Twilight Town that has a really good chef. I think he made me something like… I think it was called Mushroom Terrain or something?” Ah, mushroom terrine probably. Artfully layered mushrooms molded into a terrine—slice it and it’ll reveal a gorgeous, eye-catching interior. Sprinkle a little chopped basil up top and you’ll have yourself a beautiful dish. And they just serve this at a bistro?

“That— That sounds so high-class. Have you ever had any plain old ramen?”

“I don’t think they serve ramen at a bistro.”

  
  


And that’s how they ended up going to Ramen Don. 

It's not like they wouldn’t have ended up there anyway, considering that's how most of their little meetups ended. Neku would order Shoyu again, while Joshua made a funny quip about how he “ought to get tired of that stuff eventually” and Neku would shoot him a glare that implied he was seconds from jumping him. Then Shiki would laugh and order Miso, Beat would get the Tonkotsu Ramen, and Rhyme would try whatever Mystery Dish the owner Ken had thought of this week. 

It was a nice routine. 

Having Riku here this time around made things a lot more lively than usual.

“Hey, Shoyu is a great first choice for ramen.”

“If ya wanna be basic, Phones!

“Beat, that’s the point!”

Okay, maybe the liveliness was going to give him a headache. Before he could say anything to stir the pot (ha), Riku spoke up. “Next time, I can try whatever you’re having, Beat. Promise.”

Joshua hums. ‘Next time’, huh. He still can’t fathom why Riku bothers to come all the way to hang out with them when he seems to have his own set of friends wherever he comes from, but it’s not like he’s complaining. Just questioning his reasons. Was there a falling out? Is Shibuya just that interesting to him? Or maybe he is much more charming than Joshua gave himself credit for. 

Well, regardless, he won’t always be available to saunter around the city aimlessly, Riku or not. He does actually have duties, as much as he may like to pretend that he doesn’t. Avoiding his Producer can only last so long before he eventually ambushes him inside his secret apartment and forces him to do all the paperwork he’s been putting off. Does anyone actually read his reports? If they do, he hopes that they at least get a laugh out of them. He may not _need_ sleep anymore but an all-nighter still affects him and some of the things he’s written are borderline incomprehensible. That’s what he gets for procrastinating on them until the last minute and then having to do them all at once. 

Resting his head on the table, he tries to tune out the surrounding noise. Everyone else is too engaged in their conversations to really comment about Joshua dozing off between their bowls of ramen, though it’s not like they’d say anything if they _did_ notice. He’s tired himself out with thinking about how Sanae is likely to corner him at his apartment and make him do his stupid reports again and _how badly he doesn’t want to do that._

Being God sounds great until you cause a chain of events that ends up with Shibuya becoming the ideal parallel world and suddenly the Higher Plane wants to know everything about anything all the time. 

If he’d known that attempting to go through with his plan, and then its subsequent derailment, would actually end up in _more_ work rather than less, he would’ve thought of a different one. What good is his supertemporal vision if it can’t even foresee the consequences of his own actions. Absolutely goddamn nothing. 

Just as he was about to bemoan his circumstances again, he feels a hand on his back. 

“Sorry to wake you, but everyone’s already left,” Riku tells him quietly. “They said to leave you be, but I kinda felt bad about leaving you behind.”

Being trapped in a maelstrom of dissatisfaction made him entirely lose track of time, and he has no idea how long he's been quasi-asleep. It's dark out, and Riku is looking at him expectantly, but he's going to need like, a minute. He forgot how disoriented naps made him feel. 

"Right," he begins, but his tongue feels like lead in his mouth and his head might as well have been filled with sand, so this is about as articulate as he can get at the moment. Instead, he proceeds to unstick himself from the table, slowly trying to get up and hoping that his legs stop feeling like static so that he won't crumble in on himself the second he leaves the stable support of the table. The hand on his back hasn't left yet, and its warmth might just be what's keeping him grounded. 

Riku, who might be the more angelic one between the two of them right now, is still smiling at him, seemingly unbothered by the fact that Joshua is taking his sweet time getting up from his seat. Don't blame the napper, blame the nap, Riku. He very much wishes that he wasn't putting up such an unsightly display either, but the post-nap lethargy will be in effect for at least another 10 minutes. 

"You seem like the opposite of refreshed," Riku laughs at him. 

He doesn't want to know what he looks like right now. "Thank you for this astute observation, you are ever the gentleman."

As they finally leave Ramen Don, a cool breeze hits his face as opposed to the blistering heat of the sun. Just as he suspected, the sun had already gone down. He turns to walk towards his apartment, ready to exchange goodbyes, but the steady hand on his back still doesn't leave him. 

"You don't need to walk me home, Riku."

"Maybe I want to," he mutters so quietly that Joshua almost didn't catch it. "I haven't got to talk to you much today, since everyone was so swept up in the excitement of showing me around."

His eyes widen a little and his heart does… _something_ at hearing that. It kind of took him by surprise, and he has no idea what to reply. So he doesn't. "You seemed like you had something on your mind. Keyblade business?"

"Something like that," he scratches at his cheek. A cute habit. "Things have finally been calming down, but now…"

Riku trails off a bit, probably debating whether he should've brought it up in the first place. They've been walking for a while, and Joshua stops to face him to let him know he's listening, even if he mourns the loss of warmth on his back. 

"Well, everything that's been building up hit me all at once," he laughs awkwardly, but there's no humour in it. "It's a little overwhelming."

He knows the feeling a little too well. "If you ever need a moment away from it all," he goes on. "Shibuya's doors are always open."

Upon hearing that, Riku seems to relax somewhat. His shoulders slump down, and he gives Joshua a sincere smile. "I really appreciate it."

  
  


<><><>

  
  


When he'd offered to walk Joshua home, he'd felt a little selfish. With the conclusion of the Keyblade War and his subsequent temporary suspension from any Keyblade-related activities, he was left to ruminate about everything that had happened in the past few years.

Needless to say it was... a lot. 

He’d gone through all the motions, denial about how much those years _really_ affected him, anger at the fact that he’d lost his childhood to war, ready to bargain with Master Yen Sid about letting him go on missions again just so he’d feel more fulfilled, and now, complete and utter despondency at how little he knew about what other people his age did for fun. 

This was his first visit to Shibuya after the war, and while he’d been really happy to see Beat and the others again, he was kind of looking forward to talking to Joshua the most. 

In the Sleeping Worlds—they’d gotten along really well. The way Joshua teased him about not having any hobbies—as funny as it may sound, it made him feel like he was just like any other kid. Even if he didn’t trust him at first, eventually he realized that they weren’t all that different from each other. 

Riku’s never been one to pry into another person’s life, but he got the impression that, for whatever reason, Joshua tried to distance himself from the others because of something he did. 

And, well, Riku could write a book about that. 

Either way, he could confide in Joshua in a way he couldn’t really with Beat or Rhyme. And he likes to think that maybe Joshua feels the same way about him, too.

So, yes, he felt a little selfish about offering to walk Joshua home, since he was kind of hoping to talk to him about everything that’s been on his mind lately. He figured, if anyone understood what he was going through, it’d be Joshua. 

That is, until he saw how exhausted the blond had looked after being woken up from his little siesta. 

It was kind of refreshing—to see him a little disheveled and trying to stifle a yawn when Riku wasn’t looking. A sense of comfortable, calm _normalcy_ washed over him and he decided he wouldn’t force the topic today. 

Well, until Joshua pointed out that he’d looked like he wanted to talk. It almost made him laugh how easily the other was able to read him. 

“ _Shibuya's doors are always open,_ " Joshua told him. 

He really did appreciate it—having a place to turn to. Probably more than he could express at the moment. 

  


But naturally, with Joshua being Joshua, the moment didn’t last, and he quickly changed the topic to something more light-hearted. 

“Have you ever been to my apartment, Riku?”

“You mean the aquarium-like place?” He hopes that’s not his apartment. Isn’t it weird to have fish watch you sleep?

“It’s more of an office. Besides, did you see any wardrobes in there? Honestly, Riku,” he laments. “No, my apartment is _much_ nicer. “

  
  


And that’s how he ended up in Joshua’s apartment at some unknown hour in the evening. 

It was surprisingly clean, though that may be due to the utter lack of personal trinkets around the house. What was that called again? Minimalist?

Somehow, he hadn’t taken Joshua to be the type. 

“Admiring the impeccable interior design?”

“I kind of miss the aquarium.”

That earns him a shove into the coat hanger from his friend. “No, I— it’s nice. I mean,” he trails off slightly, not really sure what to say. He’s never been particularly good at decorating or anything artsy like that. Usually he’d just let Naminé take the lead in that department, and nod occasionally if she asked which color to pick. 

It’s difficult to tell if Joshua really does care for interior design or if he wants to seem like a person who does. The more he thinks about the aquarium office with wall-hanging fountains, the less confident he is in the answer. 

Naminé would have a field day visiting the Dead God’s Pad. 

“Spacing out already, Riku? I suppose it _is_ quite late.”

Apparently he’d just been staring at the kitchen island this entire time. “Sorry, I was thinking.”

Joshua shoots him a little smirk, having already moved behind the kitchen counter and starting to rummage through the cupboards. “Being the excellent host that I am, I’m already preparing refreshments.” 

He laughs at that. “I’m forever grateful.”

“You better be,” he mutters, giving up on searching the cupboards and instead choosing to inspect the fridge, only to find it empty. “Though it seems we are out of beverages.”

“All of them?” he chuckles, barely able to stifle his growing laughter. Joshua doesn’t seem to appreciate his reaction, already crossing his arms and pursing his lips. 

“Yes, all of them,” he admits. “I don’t make much use of my kitchen.”

He’s a little worried about his friend’s eating habits, but he knows that he has at least one person around that makes sure he eats something every now and then. Still, as funny as it may be, he does hope that Joshua gets around to grocery shopping soon.

Having given up on offering any refreshments to his guest, Joshua turns into the hallway, gesturing at Riku to follow. 

He ends up being led to a room with a giant bed and— 

“Wait, is this your bedroom?”

Joshua moves to sit down at the edge of, presumably, his own bed. “Why, yes, Riku. Should the call of dreams reach me, this is where I lay down to rest.”

“A simple ‘yes’ would’ve been enough,” he chuckles, remaining at the door. “Do you really need that big of a bed?”

“I’d say it’s somewhat on the smaller side already,” Joshua mumbles, patting the empty space next to him. He calls this small?

Riku pushes himself off the doorframe and hesitantly makes his way towards him. Before he could even attempt to hover awkwardly next to his friend, Joshua grabs his arm and pulls him down onto the bed.

“Relax, I give you carte blanche to lounge around the entire apartment.” 

Card what? “Are you—”

“Yes, I’m sure,” he cuts off, rummaging through the drawer in his bedside vanity. Is he looking for something?

Having apparently found whatever he was looking for already, Joshua takes Riku’s hand. “Now, hold still.”

He does as told, and notices that his friend is holding a small glass bottle of some kind. 

“I do believe this is your color,” Joshua remarks. “Goes well with your eyes.”

Before Riku could ask what he meant, he feels something cool touch his hand, and almost retracts it out of reflex.

“Woah there, no moving.”

“Sorry. Are you putting nail polish on me?”

“Yep,” he says, popping the ‘P’. “I figured you never had it done before. Plus, I thought it’d be fun.”

Well, he was right that he’s never had his nails painted. Now that he thinks about it, he doesn’t believe he’s ever seen anyone with nail polish on, either. 

The two of them don’t say anything while Joshua is painting his nails. His hand feels a little tingly, and he almost didn’t realize that he had been holding his breath. 

“Alright, give me your other hand now.”

Riku pulls back his now-freshly painted hand, and swaps it out for the other. Joshua’s hands were cold, so they felt nice against his warm ones. 

Having some kind of invisible weight on his hand feels a little strange, and he had to stretch it a couple times before the feeling went away. The teal paint shimmers from the light, and he finds himself thinking that having his nails painted by Joshua was kind of nice. 

“I’m not being particularly thorough this time,” Joshua explains. “Usually I’d start with trimming and filing the nails, and letting them soak in some hot water for a bit.”

“There’s more to it than just painting?”

“Oh, definitely. I could also apply a base coat, and then put on several layers of the actual nail polish.”

“Huh,” he hums. There’s a lot more to painting your nails than he initially thought. They do end up looking pretty nice though, so it’s a fair payoff. 

He can see Joshua smirk at him for admiring his hand. “I can give you the full experience next time, if you’d like.”

“I think I’d like that,” he whispers, now looking at the hand that Joshua just finished. Knowing that it’s something he enjoys doing, Riku can’t help but want to see him utterly absorbed in his craft again. He scrunches his nose when he’s focused, which is kind of cute. 

As he was absorbed in his thoughts, Joshua grabbed his hands again. “Time to apply the top coat,” he said in a singsong voice. “You didn’t think that was it, did you?”

He did, but honestly he just likes that Joshua is holding his hand again. From the looks of it, that new paint seems to be transparent? “What does it do?”

“Makes it more shiny,” he mumbles. “Would you want to be seen with matte, lackluster nails? Of course you wouldn’t.”

Riku was unaware that there seems to be some kind of nail polish etiquette to follow. It’s kind of funny, about an hour ago he would’ve thought that there was nothing more to it than to put paint on your nails. 

Closing his eyes, he smiles softly. Maybe things would be alright if he could experience things like this.

  
  


<><><>

  
  


He hadn’t meant to fall asleep at Joshua’s last night, especially after he’d been so kind as to paint his nails for him. Waking up in that massive bed of his, several pillows scattered around him and with the blanket halfway off the bed, it was, surprisingly, one of the better rests he’s had in a while. 

Though he did feel bad that Joshua likely decided to forgo sleep that night. 

“Hey, Riku! Ready to take off?”

Startled out of his reverie, he makes his way to the Gummi Ship. “Sorry, Kairi. I’m about ready.”

“Is that nail polish you’ve got on you?” she asks, taking his hand and inspecting it. “Since when do you paint your nails?”

Suddenly embarrassed, he scratches at his cheek. “Ah, a friend did these for me last night,” he replies sheepishly, grinning at the memory. “They look nice, right?”

She squints at him slightly before turning her attention back to his hands. “Very. You should let Lea take a look at them, he loves this stuff.”

With that, she leaves Riku in the hangar and saunters into the Gummi Ship. He smirks to himself, almost excited at the prospect of showing the others what Joshua had done for him. 

  


Yeah, he thinks he likes having his nails painted.

**Author's Note:**

> the inherent homoerotic tension between u and the person thats painting ur nails...


End file.
